Opal had her calf last Monday night around 8pm. She had a
little heifer we named Olive. The birth went very well, quick and easy. The
excitement really started afterwards, because she gave birth in the open pasture
and we had to move her and the calf to the barn. As soon as she gave birth,
Opal’s instincts kicked in as if a switch had been activated. She became super
vigilant, and being out on pasture, exposed, she was very anxious about the
smallest movemets. The cats were driving her crazy moving through the tall
grass, and they were drawn to the birth site and kept coming towards her. The
other problem was that the when the baby stood and started walking around, she
didn’t know anything about the electric fence and kept walking into it getting
zapped. At one point she got on the other side of it and Opal was getting
frantic. In addition, Ed and I had not seen the baby nurse, and we had read
that it was best if she got colostrum in the first 2 hours after birth, so we
were worried that with all the stress of the open pasture, the cats, and the
electric fence, it was making it harder for both mother and calf to nurse.
So
at around midnight, we decided to move everyone into the barns at the other end
of the field. We moved Jasmine first with no problem. She had been with Opal throughout
the birth, and we knew that they’d get stressed if separated. When we got to
moving Opal, Ed picked up the calf and we thought about putting the lead rope
on Opal, but then we decided not to, thinking that she’d just follow wherever
her calf was being taken. This is not how it happened.
We took a few steps and
Opal walked nicely with us. Then she bolted and all we could see was her behind,
running surprisingly fast for one who’s just given birth, between the carrot
beds and the apple trees, udder swinging from side to side. Ed said that things
were going from bad to worse, here we were in the pitch dark, with a newborn
calf and a loose cow frantically running across the fields, possibly getting
hurt. Fortunately we did not panic for too long, because we walked to the barn
with Olive still in Ed’s arms, and there was Opal waiting at the barn door.
Things got much better once everyone was in the barn. Opal and Olive settled in
one stall, and Jasmine in the other. We still did not see Olive nurse, and Ed
we tried putting her on the teat, which didn’t work, and eventually we went to
bed exhausted, but at least knowing that everyone was safe in the barn.
It was
around 1:30 when we went back to the house, and I slept until next morning at
6:30, but Ed heard the wind pick up during the night, and it was blowing strong
at around 3:30am, so he got up to tie the chicken coops to the ground so that
they would not be blown away (happened in the past).
The next day, we still had not seen Olive nurse, so we ended
up milking a little colostrum from Opal and giving it to Olive in a bottle.
This was not easy. Opal was very cooperative, but Olive was not. She did not
want to drink and the whole thing was a struggle. I was not too worried because
Olive looked good and perky. Ed and I called some people more experienced with
cows that we are, and they said that Olive is probably nursing when we are not
there, otherwise she’d be bleating and looking weak. Finally, that night, while
I was out voting at a town meeting, Ed saw Olive nurse, and after that we were
much relieved.
Now, we’ve been trying to milk Opal since Friday. At first
we tried in the stanchion and it was a mess, she was trying to get out and was
very stressed about her baby who was in and out of sight. Her eyes were rolled
up in her head – not an ideal state for milking. Later, we tried milking in the
open pasture, which went much better as far as Opal being comfortable. But we
barely got any milk. We milked again yesterday and got maybe 1.5cups in all. Today
a friend is coming to show us how he milks. We’ll see how much he gets. It
feels like Opal has a lot, but I think maybe our milking technique is not good,
and maybe she’s not letting down for us. Or maybe it’s too early to expect a
lot, like, 1 quart, for example? We’re on the step part of the learning curve,
obviously.
The vegetables are mostly doing well. But the flea beetles
are bad this year, and I’m worried about the kale. They’re on it, and on the
collards, and making a mess of both of them. I have a second planting of kale which
I will put in a different part of the field. And I ordered a special cover which
is supposed to protect against flea beetles, and I plan to put it on the kale.
I do hope it works because it was very expensive. I feel that we need to do all
we can to save the kale, since its popularity has increased dramatically in the
past two years, and now everyone wants it.
The flea beetles are beginning to go on the eggplants too,
but we’ll cover them after we transplant them this week, and hopefully that
will stop any damage.
Carrots, beets, chard, peas, strawberries, lettuces, spinach
and tomatoes are all looking good.
Here are some pictures:
First time we saw Olive nurse, a great relief.
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